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Fresh Air fund: Camp Couchiching has bumper crop of BFFs

About 900 kids will attend Cooch this summer, including those with respiratory problems, epilepsy and physical challenges.

From left, Ruby Forsyth, Samara Tower, Carmen Scorcone and Irene Gonzalez practise their cabin dance at Camp Couchiching where they have come up with their own words to decribe the fun. (LESLIE FERENC / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

LONGFORD MILLS, ONT.—The only way to get into Napier is to do the cabin dance — arms waving and legs hopping — preferably to tunes from Coldplay.

And once inside, the girls welcome guests in their own unique way, using made-up words like “piffeloffilous” (to be excited) and “pieoretize” (to save room for dessert). Important things at Camp Couchiching where happiness is in the air and friends just want to have fun.

Irene Gonzalez can’t get enough of it. The 12-year-old is from Madrid, Spain, and it’s her first adventure at camp, where she’s seen her first squirrel, gone kayaking on the crystal waters of the lake and met the other girls in the posse.

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“I’m having so much fun,” Irene said. “I couldn’t go kayaking in Madrid.”

This summer is the second at Cooch for Samara Tower, also 12, who said the best thing about going to camp is making new friends, like the BFF she’s met in Napier Cabin. They’ll be friends for life.

“I also like to get away from the isolation of the city to be in nature.”

This summer, Samara is focused on honing her photography skills, making sure Irene has plenty of pix to show her friends back home. She’s also signed up for advanced canoeing and is getting better at it every day.

When asked what the girls talk about before lights out, Carmen Scorsone and Ruby Forsyth, both 12, replied in unison “everything.” Then they looked at each other and started laughing.

Children’s laughter is heard all over Cooch, whether it’s on the basketball court, soccer field, the waterfront or around the campfire. The girls also fired off other words they’d made up, tongue twisters of the highest order. By the time the fearless foursome are finished camp, they’ll have a dictionary full of their words.

That’s when they all laughed together and got into formation to do the cabin dance.

As they did their thing, Taran Crooks watched from the sidelines. Also a first timer at Cooch, he was soaking up the atmosphere at camp and having a blast.

Taran, 14, and his sister Cameron, 12, are from Kildare, Ireland, and were invited to camp by their Canadian cousin, Richard Nauman.

It’s the best experience, said Taran. “I love the high ropes and rock wall — I’ve been to the top,” he said, sitting outside the dining hall waiting for lunch. “I’m also in advanced archery and almost hit the bull’s-eye.”

A few days ago, he and his new buddies built a robot out of boxes and took aim at it. “I wouldn’t be doing this in Ireland,” he said, adding camps there “are not like this at all. They’re not in the wilderness.”

Only in Canada.

Cooch’s new camp director, Oona Ashmore, said about 900 kids will attend camp this summer, including those with respiratory problems, epilepsy and physical challenges.

“This is just so much fun, that all kids should try to go somewhere like this,” said Taran, adding he’d love to come back. “It’s way better than anything. The food is great and the people very nice. So are the counsellors.”

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